TRANSPORT bosses in York have today launched a major ten-week public consultation asking YOU for your ideas on how to improve transport and reduce pollution and gridlock across the city.
The consultation, months in the planning, is launched just days after there was gridlock in central York on the first weekend of the Christmas fair – with one disgruntled visitor complaining that York didn’t have the infrastructure to support such large numbers of visitors.
The aim of the consultation is to ask residents, businesses, tourists and commuters how they currently travel in York – and how they’d like to be able to travel.
Over the next ten weeks there will be a string of accessible drop-in sessions in central York and in outlying towns and villages.
But the key plank of the consultation is an interactive online survey that allows you to indicate exactly what changes or improvements you’d like to make.
The online survey includes a series of interactive digital maps on which you can click to mark where you think key congestion points in the city are, or where you think blue badge parking or new cycle parks should be situated.
Cllr Pete Kilbane, the authority’s Labour executive member for transport, said: "This is something new and innovative for York.
The idea is that if someone is travelling around the city and they find there is a particular pinch point in a particular place, they can think ‘ah, yes’, and then go online and put a notification as to where the difficulties are.
“That way we can map all the problem areas and we can focus attention on fixing those areas.
Council bosses claim today’s consultation is the first time since 2010 that all aspects of transport in the city have been looked at together, rather than as individual projects.
Cllr Kilbane said: “Today’s launch marks the start of a really significant and far-reaching public consultation.
“We have ambitious targets to tackle climate change, including reducing carbon emissions from transport by 71 per cent and reducing the number of miles travelled by car by 20 per cent by 2030.
“This will not happen overnight and we know that if we are going to free up the roads for those who need to use them, we have to make improvements so that walking, cycling or taking the bus are reliable, practical and attractive options for those who can make the change. We also recognise that we need to better support our disabled residents and visitors.
“We have a wide range of ways you can take part, from accessible and wheelchair friendly drop-in sessions; school visits; our staff going out and about with the mobile library, and a comprehensive online portal. I’d really encourage everyone who travels in York to take part.”
Councillor Kate Ravilious, the authority’s joint executive member for the environment and climate emergency, added: “Addressing climate change is crucial but it isn’t a goal on its own. We have learned and taken inspiration from other cities and put forward transport policies that bring multiple benefits including safer streets, a stronger economy, healthier spaces and cleaner air.
“We’re excited by the opportunities that this presents and are really looking forward to hearing the views of the city.”
Cllr Kilbane stressed that today’s consultation does NOT set out concrete plans for solving York’s traffic problems.
That is deliberate, he said.
“We want the people of York to tell us what they want and to give us their ideas,” he said.
Nevertheless, the consultation is focussed around 10 major ‘policy themes’, which include improving accessibility; improving walking, wheelchair access, wheeling and cycling; freight access; and improving public transport, amongst others (see panel).
Cllr Kilbane pledged that responses to the consultation would shape new Local Transport Plan for the city that will be in place by next summer.
For a full list of drop in sessions, or take to part in the online survey, visit ourbigconversation.york.gov.uk
Ten areas of focus for new transport consultation
Council bosses say the new consultation marks the first time since 2010 that the authority has looked ‘holistically’ at all the different modes of transport across the whole of York – from the footstreets and city centre out to villages and rural areas.
It is not only York residents who are being consulted - but also commuters and visitors. The consultation is also going into schools, and as well as a series of drop-in events in York itself at the Friargate Meeting House, the mobile library service will take the consultation out to villages around the city.
The consultation is organised around ten ‘policy areas’:
- Accessibility – so that everyone can access the areas and facilities they need and want
- Improving walking, wheelchair access, wheeling and cycling – so that these become real alternatives to driving a car
- Shaping healthy places – offering a range of ways to move around and using the opportunity to provide better places for us to live, work and visit
- Improving public transport – upgrading and improving bus and rail services
- Safeguarding the environment by cutting carbon, air pollution and noise
- Creating a Movement and Place plan – creating safe, connected transport networks
- Reducing car dependency – supporting people to change how they travel, and encourage those who can, to reduce their journeys by car
- Improving freight and logistics – creating efficient access for businesses while reducing the impact of heavy vehicles
- Effective maintenance and enforcement – so that people choosing sustainable travel are safe, and that cycling, walking and wheeling routes are well maintained
- Monitoring the transport network and financing the changes – including attracting funding to deliver the new transport strategy as effectively
What they say
Today's launch of a new transport consultation has been broadly welcomed by local politicians of all parties in York, and by an independent transport expert - though not without some reservations.
The council's Lib Dem transport spokesperson Cllr Stephen Fenton said his group would actively participate in the consultation.
He said: “I am pleased to see that a lot of the good work done by the previous administration is reflected in the proposals going out for consultation.
"It’s important that we try to build consensus across urban, suburban and village communities around a strategy that will underpin measures to give everyone better access to reliable, sustainable and affordable means of transport and also deliver on our climate change commitments."
But he added: "“It will be important for the consultation exercise to meaningfully engage with residents and businesses across the city so that people have a genuine stake in creating a transport network that meets everyone’s needs."
York’s Green former transport boss Andy D’Agorne said: “I welcome this widespread consultation on the 10 policy principles that are clearly needed to tackle York's recent traffic gridlock, with buses delayed by up to an hour which is clearly unsustainable.
"I hope everyone will help to create a vision of what needs to change to boost health, cut pollution and create a better living environment for future generations."
Mr D’Agorne added that the interactive digital online maps where people could directly mark where there were traffic problems, or where they thought blue badge parking or cycle parks should go, were a ‘great idea’. But he said he found it frustrating that the system didn’t allow him to make comments.
Transport expert Prof Tony May of the York Civic Trust’s Transport Advisory Group said he warmly welcomed the consultation and endorsed the council’s vision and objectives as a ‘clear indication of the direction which York must take’.
But he said there were still some things missing – including details on how transport improvements would be financed, as well as timetables and some idea of how traffic plans would be modelled and proposals assessed.
Cllr Chris Steward, leader of the Conservative group on City of York Council, said: "‘We welcome the start of what looks like it could be the fullest transport consultation that York has seen - hopefully reaching out to people who would not normally engage in council consultations.
"Hopefully that will be the case and residents will be listened to.
"Our focus has always been improving public transport so that people want to use it rather than the car, but mindful that car journeys continue to have a vital role – especially for more rural communities.
"The council’s aim to cut car journeys by 20 per cent looks very ambitious, but hopefully the game changer can be the new North Yorkshire and York Mayor coming in May and their chance to truly improve particularly bus transport."
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